In the late 1950s, a Russian geneticist called Dmitry K. Belyaev attempted to create a tame (驯化的) fox population. Through the work of a breeding programme at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics at Novosibirsk, in Russia, he sought to find the evolutionary pathway of tame animals. His test subjects were silver-black foxes, a melanistic (带黑色的) version of the red fox that had been bred in farms for the color of their fur.

    He selected the animals based on how they responded when their cage was opened. About 10% of the foxes displayed a weak “wild-response”, meaning they were docile around humans. Those that hid in the corner or made aggressive voices were left in the farm. Of those friendly foxes, 100 females and 30 males were chosen as the first generations of parents.

    When the young foxes were born, the researchers hand-fed them. They also attempted to touch or pet the foxes when they were two to two-and-a-half months old, for strictly measured periods at a time. If the young foxes continued to show aggressive response, even after significant human contact, they were thrown away from the population—meaning they were made into fur coats. In each selection, less than 10% of tame individuals were used as parents of the next generation.

    By the fourth generation, the scientists started to see dramatic changes. The young foxes were beginning to behave more like dogs. They wagged their tails and “eagerly” sought contact with humans. By 2005-2006, almost all the foxes were playful, friendly and behaving like domestic dogs. The foxes could “read” human hints and respond correctly to gestures or glances.

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    The fence was long and high. He put the brush into the whitewash and moved it along the top of the fence. He repeated the operation. He felt he could not continue and sat down.

    He knew that his friends would arrive soon with all kinds of interesting plans for the day.

    They would walk past him and laugh. They would make jokes about his having to work on a beautiful summer Saturday. The thought burned him like fire.

    He put his hand into his pockets and took out all that he owned. Perhaps he could find some way to pay someone to do the whitewashing for him. But there was nothing of value in his pockets—nothing that could buy even half an hour of freedom. So he put the bits of toys back into his pockets and gave up the idea.

    At this dark and hopeless moment, a wonderful idea came to him. It filled his mind with a great, bright light. Calmly he picked up the brush and started again to whitewash.

    While Tom was working, Ben Rogers appeared. Ben was eating an apple as he walked along the street. As he walked along it, he was making noises like the sound of a riverboat. First he shouted loudly, like a boat captain. Then he said “Ding－Dong－Dong”,“Ding－Dong－Dong” again and again, like the bell of a riverboat. And he made other strange noises. When he came close to Tom, he stopped.

    Tom went on whitewashing. He did not look at Ben. Ben stared a moment and then said: “Hello! I'm going swimming, but you can't go, can you？”

    No answer. Tom moved his brush carefully along the fence and looked at the result with the eye of an artist. Ben came nearer. Tom's mouth watered for the apple, but he kept on working.

    Ben said, “Hello, old fellow, you've got to work, hey？”

    Tom turned suddenly and said, “Why, it's you, Ben! I wasn't noticing.”

     “Say—I'm going swimming. Don't you wish you could? But of course you'd rather work—wouldn't you? Of course you would.”

    Tom looked at the boy a bit, and said, “What do you call work？”

     “Why, isn't that work？”

    Tom went back to his whitewashing, and answered carelessly.

     “Well, maybe it is, and maybe it isn't. All I know is, it suits Tom Sawyer.”

     “Oh come, now, you don't mean to say that you like it？”

    The brush continued to move.

     “Like it? Well, I don't see why I shouldn't like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day？”

    Ben stopped eating his apple. Tom moved his brush back and forth, stepped back to look at the result, added a touch here and there, and stepped back again. Ben watched every move and got more and more interested. Soon he said，“Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little.”

    Tom thought for a moment, and was about to agree, but he changed his mind.

     “No—no—it won't do, Ben. You see, Aunt Polly wants this fence to be perfect. It has got to be done very carefully. I don't think there is one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand, that can do it well enough.”

     “No—is that so? Oh come, now—let me just try. Only just a little.”

“Ben, I'd like to, but if it isn't done right, I'm afraid Aunt Polly ”

     “Oh, I'll be careful. Now let me try. Say—I'll give you the core of my apple.”

     “Well, here—No, Ben, now don't. I'm afraid …”

     “I'll give you all of it.”

    Tom gave up the brush with unwillingness on his face, but joy in his heart. And while Ben worked at the fence in the hot sun, Tom sat under a tree, eating the apple, and planning how to get more help. There were enough boys. Each one came to laugh, but remained to whitewash. By the time Ben was tired, Tom sold the next chance to Billy for a kite; and when Billy was tired, Johnny bought it for a dead rat—and so on, hour after hour. And when the middle of the afternoon came, Tom had won many treasures.

    And he had not worked. He had had a nice idle time all the time, with plenty of company, and the fence had been whitewashed three times. If he hadn't run out of whitewash, Tom would have owned everything belonging to his friends.

    He had discovered a great law of human action, namely, that in order to make a man or a boy want a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to get.

    The American newspaper has been around for about three hundred years. In 1721, the printer James Franklin, Benjamin's older brother, started the New England Courant, and that was what we might recognize today as a real newspaper. He filled his paper with stories of adventure, articles on art, on famous people, and on all sorts of political subjects.

    Three centuries after the appearance of Franklin's Courant, few believe that newspapers in their present printed form will remain alive for long, Newspaper companies are losing advertisers, readers, market value, and in some cases, their sense of purpose at a speed that would not have been imaginable just several years ago. The chief editor of the Times said recently, “At places where they gather, editors ask one another, 'How are you?', as if they have just come out of the hospital or a lost law case.” An article about the newspaper appealed on the website of the Guardian, under the headline “NOT DEAD YET.”

    Perhaps not, but the rise of the Internet, which has made the daily newspaper look slow and out of step with the world, has brought about a real sense of death, Some American newspapers have lost 42% of their market value in the past three years. The New York Times Company has seen its stock（股票）drop by 54% since the end of 2004, with much of the loss coming in the past year. A manager at Deutsche Bank suggested that stock - holders sell off their Times stock. The Washington Post Company has prevented the trouble only by changing part of its business to education; its testing and test — preparation service now brings in at least half the company's income,

    Youth volunteers from Beijing University visited Song tang Hospital, a care clinic for the aged and dying patients, during the second Global Youth Service Day on April 21．

    Thirty student volunteers from the university's School of International Studies sat at the beds of the patients in their specially decorated “care huts”. They talked with them and gave massages （按摩）to patients kept in their beds.

    I felt sorry that I could not offer more to these people than talking with them and trying to cheer them up, said Deng Yetao, 20, a third - year student. “But it occurred to me that they need more care and love than babies. They are afraid of the coming death. Their loneliness is worse than physical pains.”

    “Even though they are suffering a lot, the majority of the elderly people want to talk to us. Each of them has a lot of life experiences and philosophies to share. Instead of doing them a favor, I felt I was gaining a valuable lesson. Said Mao Xiaohua, another third - year student.

    Mao talked with two elderly patients for a whole afternoon. The fact that most of the patients in the 80 - room clinic are aged people with diseases which will lead to death soon made the volunteers' hearts heavy.

    Ninety - one percent of the patients will spend the last days of their lives in the clinic, according to a survey by the hospital.

    Daily visits and services by social workers and youth volunteers are a very important part of their programmer. A total of 330, 000 Beijing students from 119 universities and colleges have visited the hospital. Many continue to offer services in their spare time. Some of them volunteer to hold the hands of dying patients during the last minutes of their lives.

    Yin Hang, a student from Beijing Medical College, said he felt“ the glory of life” as he saw the fading smile on the face of the old man who passed into a deep unconsciousness（昏迷）while he was holding his hands.

Tonya, Elsa and Mark are students at SAR Senior High School in New York City. It's a school with regular academic(学术的)classes, but it also gives special attention to the performing arts. Tonya likes dancing, Elsa wants to be an artist and Mark is a singer. 

The students are all 15,and they're in the 10th grade. They study subjects like English, maths, and science. They also choose a foreign language. Students have many academic classes, but during the school day they also take classes in the arts, like dance and music. 

There are even more activities for SAR students after school. There are more than 40 clubs for students. For example, there's a movie club, a music club and an environmental club. "We have so many choices to select," says Tonya. "I like taking photos. It's a so a great way to meet people with common interests. "

Students at SAR can also do many sports. For example, they can play basketball, tennis, volleyball and soccer. Students practice them after school. They compete against other high schools. Mark says, "At school, I study by myself. I'm a singer, and I do that alone, too. That's why I like playing on the basketball team. We work together and compete against other teams. "

SAR offers various great classes, clubs and sports to students. Students at SAR get a good education and they also develop their own interests. Many SAR students become dancers, singers and actors!